BELGARDE - Marko Djuric, director of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) said for Thursday's edition of Belgrade daily Politika that the trials in KiM will be conducted in line with the regulations passed by the Kosovo parliament.

“Since the arrival of the international forces in our southern province in 1999, the legal framework, which is created by the parliament in Pristina, has been functioning autonomously from other parts of the country. Now, there are Serbs in this parliament, and the regulations it passes will be implemented,” Djuric said when answered to explain the essence of the agreement on justice in KiM recently reached in Brussels.

He said that for the first time since 1999, this agreement made it possible for a very respectable number of Serbs to participate in the north Kosovo judiciary.

Asked in an interview via email how courts are organized in terms of territory and competence, Djuric said that the agreement envisages the operation of the court and the Prosecutor's Office in north Kosovo and defines the relationship between this court and the Special Department of the Appellate Court in Pristina, which is Serb-dominated with five Serb and two Albanian judges.

He said that the Court in Mitrovica will have four branches: Zubin Potok, Leposavic, Vucitrn and Srbica/Skenderaj.

“The Kosovska Mitrovica Court will also have two main buildings in the city: one in the north, with a predominant Serb majority, and one in the south, where the number of Serbs and Albanians will be in an inverse proportion in relation to the main building in the north with one judge more on the Serb side. The office of the court president, who decides on distribution of cases to judges, will be held by a Kosovo Serb,” Djuric explained.

Asked how long this organization will be in place, he said that it is agreed for good that a Serb will be the president of the Basic Court, and that another Serb will chair the Special Department of the Serb-dominated Appellate Court in north Kosovska Mitrovica.